8.2/10139 votesLoading...#1 - Pay Attention!
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 10/9/2011
When it comes to mastering and manipulating attention, some of the world's leading experts aren't scientists; they're magicians like David Copperfield. While the brain's attention acts a bit like a spotlight to filter and make sense of a busy world, it can be easily controlled and deceived. Copperfield and a team of experts test, trick and fool using an elegant form of attention control.
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8.1/1087 votesLoading...#2 - It's About Time
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 4/22/2013
Ever wonder why a watched pot never boils? See how the brain can actually warp and shift time, giving a false impression of the order and the speed of events. Neuroscientist Dr. Chess Stetson explains the oddball effect using a series of pictures. Illusionist Apollo Robbins uses juggling pins to demonstrate what happens when the brain doesn't have enough time to process a large amount of information, while host Jason Silva plays with the speed of sound and light to find out why movies and television shows are sometimes out of sync.
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8.0/10163 votesLoading...#3 - Watch This!
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 10/9/2011
Hack into the ultimate supercomputer ' the human brain ' as Hollywood filmmakers use color, light, motion, depth and sound to create mind-bending sensory illusions. Is it possible to feel the sensation of accidentally cutting your finger ' just by watching TV? Much of what we experience may be a mere fabrication, as our brains fill in gaps and stitch together a complete picture of the world bit-by-bit, designed to overcome our eyes' blind spots. But what happens when your senses get crossed?
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7.9/1032 votesLoading...#4 - Peer Pressure
Season 5 Episode 8 - Aired 3/2/2015
Are you a unique individual? Are you a rebel - or do you give into peer pressure? If you think you have full control of your thoughts and actions - think again. It turns out the clothes you wear, the food you eat, and even the way you walk has less to do with you and more to do with everyone else. In this episode, we'll explore that your brain may be hardwired to want to fit in. Through a series of games and experiments, we'll prove that the decisions that make you yourself also make you a part of the crowd. Sure, some of what we're about to point out might make you ...
Director: N/A
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7.9/1031 votesLoading...#5 - Logic
Season 5 Episode 9 - Aired 3/9/2015
In this episode of Brain Games, we put your problem-solving skills to the test as we lead you through a labyrinth of logic games. Every day, you use logic to get things done, from dressing for the weather, choosing the best route to work, to deciding what to eat for dinner. Through a series of interactive games and experiments, you'll learn about the power and the limitations of your logical abilities. Studies have found that logic is something you develop and hone with practice, so play along as we present puzzles and illusions that will help strengthen your brain.
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7.9/1033 votesLoading...#6 - Perspective
Season 6 Episode 4 - Aired 6/28/2015
No description available
Director: N/A
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7.9/1028 votesLoading...#7 - Animal vs. Human
Season 6 Episode 5 - Aired 6/29/2015
No description available
Director: N/A
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7.9/1018 votesLoading...#8 - The Survivor Brain
Season 7 Episode 6 - Aired 3/20/2016
Jason Silva meets several people in Colorado Springs, Colorado, who personify the word "survivor," and puts their brains to the test in a battery of challenges engineered to demonstrate what it takes to be a super survivor.
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7.8/1042 votesLoading...#9 - Addiction
Season 4 Episode 2 - Aired 7/14/2014
We all have things we say we can’t live without — coffee, smartphones, social media... But do we really need all those things, or on some deep level are we addicted to them? In this episode we’ll put you through a series of games and experiments designed to reveal how, like it or not, we’re all addicted to something, and why some addictions might be the best thing that ever happened to you. Learn what one of the most addictive sounds in the world is, why you can’t stop checking your phone, and why that awful pop song is still stuck in your head.
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7.8/1037 votesLoading...#10 - Language
Season 4 Episode 3 - Aired 7/21/2014
Would you believe language is the closest thing humans have to telepathy? Or that you speak volumes every day without uttering a single word? Play along as host Jason Silva — with help from biomedical-engineer Sri Sarma of Johns Hopkins University — leads you on a journey of discovery through the mystery of how you create meaning, and more. After we break down what to look for, viewers will be conversant in the hidden language of gestures, tells, and nonverbal signals. Through a series of addictive interactive games and unexpected experiments you’ll discover how language might be your brain’s most remarkable ability.
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7.8/1041 votesLoading...#11 - Risk
Season 4 Episode 4 - Aired 7/21/2014
Whether it's choosing what to eat for breakfast, where to invest your money or just when to cross the street, nearly every choice you make involves some sort of calculated risk. This episode explores how your brain evaluates risk — you'll discover why we're all born risk-takers and how life is often a big game of chance. You'll also find out that while your brain is hardwired to analyze risk, it doesn’t always make the most logical decisions. But pay attention, and you'll learn how to assess risk like your life depends on it... because it does!
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7.8/1028 votesLoading...
7.8/1021 votesLoading...#13 - Brains Behaving Badly
Season 7 Episode 3 - Aired 2/28/2016
Host Jason Silva visits New Orleans, Louisiana, to explore the brain and bad behavior. A series of games and experiments demonstrate how the brain has an evolutionary predilection toward doing the wrong thing.
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7.7/1099 votesLoading...#14 - Remember This!
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/9/2011
With memory, things are not always as they seem: Details go missing, recollections change, and sometimes our brains fill in the blanks and create false visual memories. Our experts are on a mission to find out where memories reside in the brain by examining every millimeter for clues. Investigating every piece of the memory puzzle, from how we recognize faces even if they have been digitally distorted to how we can move memories from short-term to long-term storage.
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7.7/1084 votesLoading...#15 - Don't Be Afraid
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 4/29/2013
Our experts examine the brain's internal tug of war between fear and rationalization. Whether boarding an airplane or walking down a spooky street at night, we'll see how dread and anticipation build feelings of fear. Putting our host's emotions to the test, Apollo Robbins challenges Jason Silva to a game of Russian roulette. Then, with the help of John Harlacher, co-director of one of New York City's scariest haunted houses, we "Fear Factor" a group of volunteers. Without their senses of sight, sound, or control of their limbs, see how they react to snakes, cockroaches and rats... or so they think.
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7.7/1059 votesLoading...#16 - Liar, Liar
Season 2 Episode 12 - Aired 6/24/2013
Host Jason Silva and deception specialist Apollo Robbins break down why we lie and what happens in the brain, even though science tells us that the truth is physiologically and neurologically easier.
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7.7/1049 votesLoading...#17 - Compassion
Season 4 Episode 1 - Aired 7/14/2014
Join host Jason Silva in a series of interactive games and experiments that explores your brain's capacity for compassion, and questions the motives behind both your selfless and selfish acts. In this episode we'll tackle the age-old question of nature vs. nurture, and test whether altruistic inclinations are hardwired in our brain from birth. You'll discover if you're actually born naughty or nice, and explore the chances of finding a psychopath among your family or friends — or even in the mirror!
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7.6/10101 votesLoading...#18 - Focus Pocus
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 4/22/2013
Think your field of vision is really in focus, or that your brain is focusing on everything happening in front of you? Think again. Brain Games reveal; the secrets behind the mysteries of focus and attention.
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7.6/1073 votesLoading...#19 - Motion Commotion
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 4/29/2013
This is a show about your brain and how it perceives motion. Evolving in a world that is constantly moving, the human brain had to develop a pretty sophisticated sense of motion in order to survive. This episode stops to ask some deceptively simple questions-What really is motion? Is the movement that you see real? Or is the wiring of your brain's motion detectors merely being fooled? We explore the science behind how your brain detects and interprets motion, and you'll see how easily this hard-wiring can be fooled... for better and for worse.
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7.6/1062 votesLoading...#20 - What You Don't Know
Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 5/13/2013
Bet you could explain something as basic as how a zipper works? Or correctly draw something as simple as a bicycle? If you said yes, you likely bet wrong... but don't worry it's not just you! When you stop and think about it, you're probably not that aware of all of the things you don't understand. The fact is we go through our daily lives feeling pretty confident in our knowledge and understanding of the world, but that confidence is mostly an illusion. In this episode of Brain Games, we'll show you firsthand just how the "illusion of knowledge" plagues the human brain and why we fall victim, again and again, to the notion that we understand more than we actually do.
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7.6/1061 votesLoading...#21 - Seeing is Believing
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 5/27/2013
Seeing is believing, right? Not necessarily. It all depends on your perspective. In this episode of Brain Games, mind-bending illusions will show you the ways in which your visual perceptions can be surprisingly off.
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7.6/1045 votesLoading...#22 - Morality
Season 5 Episode 3 - Aired 1/26/2015
Have you ever wondered where your morality comes from? Is it ingrained in your brain, set by religion, or does society dictate what you deem as right or wrong? Through a series of interactive games and experiments, we'll test the strength of your moral fiber. Play along and discover how your brain makes countless moral decisions every single day. We're going to mess with your mind as we show you how outside influences like clothing, attitude, and your own evolutionary survival may sway your brain...and your morals.
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7.5/1052 votesLoading...#23 - Battle of the Ages
Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 11/11/2013
While it's long been believed that both your body and your brain deteriorate over time, recent studies show that may not always be the case. Some brain functions improve as we get older, while others don’t fully develop until later in life. In this episode, we explore your brain and how it doesn’t always act its age. Through a series of games and experiments, you'll discover how your daily routines might be aging your brain, and how you can actually slow down the clock.
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7.5/1050 votesLoading...#24 - Common Sense
Season 5 Episode 1 - Aired 1/19/2015
From knowing when to cross the street to avoiding hot stoves, your brain is constantly making judgments that you likely take for granted. We chalk it up to common sense - but just how common is it? Through interactive games and mind-bending challenges, unravel your mental shortcuts and learn how to harness the power of collective thinking. Play along to understand how your common sense can either lead you astray or keep you on the right track.
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7.4/1080 votesLoading...#25 - Power of Persuasion
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 5/6/2013
By exposing us to specific stimuli, Jason Silva can prime our brains to respond in certain ways. See how identical twins interview for the same job, in the same clothes, with the same resume. They even give the exact same answers-but the order of the words in their answers is slightly different. The result? One twin comes off negative, and the other gets the job. Would you believe that Texas seceded from the U.S. if a crazy-looking guy told you? Probably not, but what if a news reporter with a microphone did? This episode unveils the subtle tactics that advertisers, marketers and con men can use to get you to do what they want, without you noticing.
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The Best Episodes of Brain Games
Every episode of Brain Games ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Brain Games!
Get ready to have your mind messed with! "Brain Games" is a groundbreaking series that uses interactive experiments, misdirection and tricks to demonstrate how our...
Genres:DocumentaryComedyReality
Network:National Geographic
Best Episodes Summary
"Pay Attention!" is the best rated episode of "Brain Games". It scored 8.2/10 based on 139 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 10/9/2011. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "It's About Time".